Curse of the Seasons
by theunhappytwins
Summary: For as long as there is life left in this world, this hell would continue. KaiMei, Tei/Len, GakuLuka, and MikuRin. Very loosely based on the song Song of the Seasons.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: So, somehow I turned a peaceful song about nature into romantic supernatural angst.**

**The miracles of being a fanfiction author.**

Luka watched the garden intently. Delicate pink buds bloomed on the flowers, and the sound of the brook running through it was loud in her ears. A light breeze blew through it and into the room, lifting her long light pink hair.

Spring was here.

Spring was the pink-haired woman's season, and it was always wonderful to see it after winter. The curse was always terrible during winter-though never at its worst.

It always confused her, how the curse wasn't connected to the actual chronological order of the seasons. Shouldn't it be like that instead of only affecting 'the opposites'? She didn't understand it-it seemed ridiculous.

Then again, the idea of a curse was difficult to understand using normal logic, too. She had tried to come up with different explanations in all the years before she had come to the Hatsune manor, but she had never been able to.

It was galling, hearing about such false things as curses*. They clearly could not exist.

But, still, even such a flimsy explanation was better than the years she had spent wandering in darkness, desperate and confused. Such a thing...had truly been hell.

The sliding screen door behind her rattled open, and Luka turned..

"Megurine-sama, your tea." That quiet voice was Momone Momo, one of the maids in the Hatsune estate.

Luka turned, giving Momo a polite smile. "Thank you." Tea was her favorite beverage. As Momo deposited the tray and walked away, Luka turned around to her.

"Has Meiko-san eaten yet?"

"What? No, Luka-sama..."

"Please bring her some food."

During this time, Meiko was barely able to leave her room...she was terrified of going outside, in fact. It was because of her curse...a truly terrible one. Luka didn't like to even think of it.

Luka pitied her, but being able to even see and hear this was certainly better than that. As the year went on(well, not entirely in that order) her senses were taken away. Spring was truly amazing for her-it was like a revelation. The pink-haired woman took a sip of her tea. Delicious.

Perhaps she would go out today. Miku normally had servants go out for the necessary things, but it would still be a useful thing to do.

She would enjoy this sight for a while longer.

* * *

><p>Rin sat on the bed next to the pile of blankets and pillows Miku lay amidst and coughed into her hand. "Look, I didn't <em>know<em> everyone was going to be so damn paranoid. I wasn't even coughing that much."

Miku glared at her, leaning back on the pillows, long hair spreading across them. "Those people are so stupid! Why in the world couldn't they tell that it was a curse?! It certainly wouldn't infect them or anything like that!"

"Well..." Rin rolled her eyes. "Most people don't know about curses."

"I know." Miku huffed. "It's so stupid!"

"You should really spend more time outside. It's not like it will defile you forever." Rin sighed, but it turned into a cough.

"Are you okay? Er, I mean, better than usual?" Miku frowned.

"It's spring. I'm not _that _sick." Rin snorted. Her particular curse was an illness tied to summer.

Miku nodded, with a sad smile. "I know."

Rin sighed, looking down at her feet. "...sorry that you have to deal with that." She said that quietly.

"What?"

"Your curse...it's so much worse than mine." The short-haired girl sighed, looking away.

"Rin, it's not your fault that I'm winter and you're summer." Miku smiled. "So cheer up, okay?"

Rin rolled her eyes, kicking her feet against the floor. "You know me. I'm always happy."

_"Rin!"_

* * *

><p>The door was barricaded in the room, and Meiko curled her knees tightly to her chest, hands over her ears and eyes tightly shut. Spring was the worst. Whatever sick power had designed the curse made it worst for her in this season.<p>

She heard it on the door, even through her hands over her ears. Scratching at the screen, and noises. Screams, moans, sobbing...

She didn't want to hear any of it. They would surely get her. But it was always what happened, and she couldn't get rid of it. They wouldn't ever leave her alone...

The door rattled, and Meiko hissed, leaping up to her feet. It seemed irrational, but one of the spirits could have opened it...

"Get away from me!"

"H-Haigo-sama..." The maid in the door looked terrified as she held the tray of food out, shaking.

Blood spread across the food on the tray the black-haired woman held as a spirit too old to remember its original form oozed towards it, crawling across the food and turning its bloody, ruined skull towards Meiko.

Meiko shuddered. "Leave this room."

"Wha-"

"LEAVE!" Meiko screamed.

The woman ran from the room, and Meiko slammed the screen door shut, but it was too late.

One of them was in there with her.

It slowly crawled towards her, its deformed, claw-like hands scratching across the floor, leaving trails of dark crimson behind it.

"Get away from me!" Meiko shouted, backing away from it.

It lunged at her, the claws swiping at her leg. She shouted, and dashed away, slamming her back into the wall. She kept a weapon in here for just this purpose, but they hadn't warned her that this was going to happen...

It made a strange rattling noise deep in its throat and lunged at her. Meiko ran towards her bed. The knife was under her pillow, she knew...It crawled after her, blood trailing after it.

She reached for the knife and stabbed it in its empty black eye socket.

It disintegrated, falling apart into dust.

The brown-haired girl covered her ears as the scratching and pounding on the door seemed to increase in volume.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Yeah, time for everyone else to appear. And by 'everyone else', I mean three characters, because I'm incompetent.**

The grand room seemed to dwarf the four people who sat in it-the girl with long light teal hair sitting at the head of the table with an imperious air, the black-haired man standing behind her protectively, the pink-haired woman at the foot of the table, and the blonde girl who sat along one of the long sides, poking moodily at her food.

Miku pouted. "Ugh. It's so _lonely_ in here. Are you guys sure Meiko can't eat with us?"

"Hatsune-sama, please don't talk so much." Yuuma dug his chopsticks into Miku's plate. "You need to eat. Without the use of your arms..."

Miku rolled her eyes, but let Yuuma deliver the food to her mouth.

"Even with her, it would still be only five people." Luka smiled. "It's not like there's a lot of us."

The words she hadn't spoken hovered over the group-_Miku's family isn't here._

And, unspoken words behind the unspoken words-_again._

"Mmmmf." Miku swallowed the food in her mouth. "Yuuma."

Yuuma put the chopsticks down. "Hatsune-sama, what were you going to say?"

"Stop treating me like a child. I _know_ Mama and Papa aren't home a lot." She emphasized the words. The teal-haired girl glared at them, her pale lower lip sticking out.

"Like you're anything more than a spoiled child." Rin muttered, quiet enough for no one except Luka to hear her. The blonde scowled.

"Rin!" Luka whispered, shooting a sharp glance at the blonde.

"What?" Miku asked. "What are you guys talking about?"

"Nothing." Luka smiled politely. "Miku, if you would allow Rin and I to talk for a minute?"

"Well, yes! Of course..." Miku frowned slightly.

Luka took Rin by the wrist and walked out of the room and into the hallway, dragging the small blonde behind her.

"Rin. I do not appreciate you acting like that."

The blonde snorted. "As if she could hear me. But, Luka, you understand it, right? It's so damn _frustrating. _I feel sorry for her one minute, and then she reminds me that she's just a spoiled princess locked in her fucking ivory tower and she _acts like she can be friends with us. _Kh-That _bitch!"_

"Rin." Luka's voice was dangerously quiet.

"And sometimes she's just so fake nicey-nice that I can almost believe it! But that's a filthy goddamn lie! That bitch's precious Mama and Papa fucking kidnapped us!"

"_Rin. _Get a hold of yourself."

"You understand! A bitch like that can't do anything! She keeps acting 'oh, woe is me, my parents aren't home'! I can't fucking stand that! She's a worthless fucking-" The blonde coughed heavily, hard enough that she fell to the ground.

"Rin!" Luka's voice had risen. "Please stop. You're losing control of yourself. How bad is your fever?"

Rin coughed again, her body convulsing.

"It's only spring," the pink-haired girl whispered more to herself than anything. "This shouldn't be happening." She took a deep breath, and spoke aloud, kneeling down. "Rin, can you walk?"

The blonde nodded, getting to her feet.

"Good. Go to your room. Lie down. I can get you some cough medicine if you-"

"Doesn't work." Rin's voice was raspy. "Can't you remember that?"

"Well..." Luka took a deep breath, trying to stay calm and collected. "Just lie down, then. And in the future...try to not have outbursts like that."

Rin laughed harshly. It wasn't quite a cough, but close. "And here I was thinking you could understand. Thought the same of her sometimes. Same result." She walked away, leaning on the wall.

The pink-haired woman sighed. Though Rin didn't act like it, Luka did understand her feelings. She may have had a hard life, but it was hard for her to be parted with her brother. The blonde had developed some affection for Miku, mixed with hate as it was, only because Miku had no part in her parent's work to take Rin away.

However...things like that were for the best, or so Luka thought. For her, life before she had been brought here had been...hell.

Anything would be a welcome change from that.

* * *

><p>The blond boy sighed, looking at the menu. This sort of place was normally too fancy for him, but...he was here for the most important thing in his life.<p>

A few months ago, his sister had died. Death wasn't exactly what had happened. Some man had taken her away, claiming to be for her health...but it had the same result.

He was not going to see her in this life again.

Even at the thought of it, Len's hands clenched into fists.

Ever since his older sister had been born, she had suffered from some horrendous illness. It made no sense-it seemed to change with the seasons. She'd been to hundreds of doctors, but none of them had done a thing...

Even though Len had lost most of his attention and had lost many things because of her, he still loved Rin. He would do anything to protect her...

And now someone had taken her away.

But...in the depths of this, there was hope. He had received a letter, written in formal kanji, telling him the sender knew about what had happened to his sister, and could help him try to get her back. They had offered to help him and bring down those who had taken Rin

This café was where they had agreed to meet, but he still hadn't met this person who promised him revenge for his sister.

There were many people in the cafè. Perhaps one of them was the one he was waiting for? No, he was being stupid...this was the table they had told him to wait at.

A light voice behind him. "Hello." He looked up.

A girl was standing there. She had shockingly pale skin and hair, enough to be considered albino. Her long white hair was tied back with a headband. She had delicate features, almost overwhelmed by the heavy black sunglasses she wore. It was evening, so it seemed a bit strange to be wearing dark glasses... She tapped one black-nailed finger on her chin. "You are...Kagamine Len-kun, right? Thank you for showing up as promised. My name is Sukone Tei." She smiled, and sat down besides him.

"Why this place? It's not exactly a good place to have dinner..."

"Yes, but they have really good cucumber salad." Tei smiled sweetly. "Do you like cucumbers?"

"I prefer bananas." Len shrugged. "Now...about them." His fists clenched involuntarily at even the thought.

Tei smiled. "The Hatsune family. The ones who took away...Rin. That was her name, correct?"

"Yes." Len said quietly.

"Do you know anything more about them? Do you know why they wanted your sister?" Her voice was barely above a whisper, and her pale face deadly serious.

"What drinks would you two like to order?" The voice came from a violet-haired girl whose hair was tied in two low pigtails standing near their table.

Tei smiled sweetly. "Just water, thank you."

"Do you have banana milk?" Len asked.

"Yes."

"Then I'll order that."

The girl exited.

"Why is it?" Len's voice was low.

"I don't know." Tei shrugged. "But they've taken many girls for some purpose, and your sister, Kagamine Rin, is one of thm. No one but the family and their highest-level servants are allowed to see the girls. I don't know what's happening to them."

Len felt a nagging curiosity. It was probably rude, but..."Were you related to one of them?"

She giggled. "No."

"Then why were you looking this up? What's in this for you?"

"I would prefer not to talk about that." Tei's smile seemed brittle. "Let me just say that I have a very personal interest in taking down the Hatsune family."

Len nodded. "All right." He could understand that, even if he couldn't shake the curiosity.

The waitress arrived with their drinks. "And what would you like to order?"

* * *

><p>Len walked out of the café. "Sukone-san, thank you for paying. I'm sorry-"<p>

"You don't need to apologize." She smiled. "You do not have much money, do you?"

"...no." Len dug his hands into his pockets.

"Did they offer any to your family for your sister? They must have cared for her a lot. It would have taken a lot to get her."

His head whipped around, and he studied her. It was evening, and her white hair was stark against the gloom. A smile was on her pale face, difficult to see beneath her black glasses.

His parents...they hadn't cared for her in any amount. They would have gladly taken money if it had been offered, but the Hatsune family didn't need to.

Len was the only one who cared that she was alive.

Len was the only one who would protect her.

"Len-kun?" Tei giggled.

"...I'd prefer if we didn't talk about that." Len quickly inclined his head. "We'll discuss this again. But...I would like to see my sister."

"They do not allow guests inside the mansion."

Len studied her intently. "And how would you know?"

"I have been gaining information on them from the inside. They don't let guests in, and they'd never let you see your sister."

"...what are they using them for?" Len asked quietly. Terrifying possibilities formed in his mind, each worse than the last.

Tei shook her head, long white hair stark in the darkness. "I don't know."

"Whatever it is..." Len exhaled. "I will not let _anyone _hurt my sister."

Tei was silent long enough that Len began to wonder if she had gone to sleep. With those dark glasses, he couldn't tell anything.

"...that's good, Len-kun. I'm happy that you two are so close."


End file.
